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I'd rather pay him and have him play the outfield than waste a roster spot and not pay him.

Bill Ladson says that Jimbo was about to deal Soriano to Cincy for Willy Mo but Boston got their paws there before us.

Thank goodness, that would be a waste. But there is still speculation in an article on boston.com that they could swap Soriano and Pena, but this may be old news now.

If he sits, the Sox are risking having another Jay Payton on their hands, which led to the ugliness in Texas last year in which Payton openly challenged Francona. There was already a rumor circulating last night that Washingon GM Jim Bowden, who made the trade that brought Pena to the Reds from the Yankees, might try to get the Sox to flip Pena for Alfonso Soriano, who refused to play left field for the Nats last night (Bowden, rumor has it, also would love Manny if the Sox paid some of the money).

I'd rather pay him and have him play the outfield than waste a roster spot and not pay him.

I believe players on the disqualified list don't get counted against the roster limit (like guys on DL).

The Q: Can the Cubs hold a 6-5 lead with 2 outs and nobody on in the 9th?

The A: No

***********My Rant on Bud Selig***********
Selig is like a stray pigeon. Pigeons are too self-absorbed to care about anyone else. They poo on people they don't like; they poo on people they don't even know. The only real difference between Selig and a pigeon is that Selig intends to bury our heritage, our traditions, and our culture,

On an interesting note, I read up on the disqualified list and it turns out that players contracts on the DQ list don't become active until after they are removed so if Soriano spends the whole year on this list, we still have a 1-yr contract with him and he doesn't become a free agent at the end of the 2006 season.

The Q: Can the Cubs hold a 6-5 lead with 2 outs and nobody on in the 9th?

The A: No

***********My Rant on Bud Selig***********
Selig is like a stray pigeon. Pigeons are too self-absorbed to care about anyone else. They poo on people they don't like; they poo on people they don't even know. The only real difference between Selig and a pigeon is that Selig intends to bury our heritage, our traditions, and our culture,

And other players have also been unhappy but ultimately agreed to their manager's orders. Soriano is not just horrible. If Tom Knott's numbers are right, he is the worst defensive second baseman of the last 50 years. You need somebody who can field playing second base---making one error every week is too much. You can afford to play a poor-fielding, great-hitting outfielder. You can't do the same with second---even if that second baseman hits more than OTHER second basemen in the majors.

Soriano was getting ripped a new one by Rob Dibble on XM Radio today...

His point was very simple...the standard baseball contract is a contract to play baseball and perform. That is it. You have no rights to dictate your position.

He thinks that the Nats, even though they should not have traded for him, are taking the right tack on the matter. Basically, he can play where he is told to play, or go on the DQ list, not get paid and not get service credit and still be Nats property next season. No free agent year for him.

And no matter what he does, he has probably blown whatever chance he has for big FA money, even if he does wise up and play ball.

VIERA, Fla. -- The Nationals' traveling list for Wednesday was already posted on the bulletin board in their clubhouse on their off-day Tuesday, and Alfonso Soriano's name is marked in yellow, indicating that he is supposed to go with Washington to Jupiter to play St. Louis.
Soriano told MLB.com on Tuesday that he has not made a decision if he will play on Wednesday.

"I'm going to think about it. I'm going to talk it over with my wife and agent, [Diego Bentz]," Soriano said when reached by phone. "I want to play, but they have [Jose] Vidro at second base. I will make a decision [on Wednesday morning]."

If Soriano doesn't play, Nationals general manager Jim Bowden said the club would request Major League Baseball place Soriano on the disqualified list for not rendering his services to the club. It means that Soriano would not earn his $10 million salary and lose service time. Soriano is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2006 season, but Bowden said Soriano would lose his eligibility to look for employment elsewhere after the season.

The standoff between Soriano and the club reached this stage when Soriano refused to play left field on Monday night against the Dodgers. Since being acquired in a December trade with Texas, Soriano has repeatedly said he wants to remain a second baseman and not be shifted to the outfield, as the Nationals had planned.

Soriano now says he thought he was not supposed to start the game, because when he looked at the lineup in the clubhouse, he was not part of the starting nine. He said he didn't know he was supposed to play against the Dodgers until Nick Johnson gave him a call during the game.

According to two baseball sources, bench coach Eddie Rodriguez wrote two lineups on Monday. The one without Soriano's name in the lineup was on the clubhouse bulletin board for most of the afternoon.

"With me, I'm thinking I'm out of the lineup," Soriano said. "Before they made the lineup, I told them if I'm not playing second base, I do not want to be in the lineup. Nick Johnson called me at that time and he told me that they had me in the lineup, but [nobody showed up]. Now I look like the bad guy."

Soriano was acquired from the Rangers on Dec. 7 for outfielders Brad Wilkerson and Terrmel Sledge and right-hander Armando Galarraga. The trade didn't become official until Dec. 13, because Wilkerson was on a trip to the Bahamas.

Texas denied Washington permission to talk to Soriano about a switch from second base to left field until the players took their physicals and the trade was official.

"[The Nationals] didn't tell me about the switch until after the trade," Soriano said. "[The Rangers] didn't want them to talk, because they know what the problem is. The Nationals had to know how unhappy I would be."

Soriano said that he regrets that he didn't talk the media before the Monday's game. Several times, the Washington press tried to get a comment from the four-time All-Star, but he declined.

"I apologize for not talking to you guys. That's not me," he said.

Washington expects the Major League Baseball Players Association to file a grievance on Soriano's behalf and take the case to arbitration should the impasse not be resolved.

"I want this thing to work out," said catcher Brian Schneider. "We need Alfonso in that lineup bad. It would be a huge help. I don't think it has been a huge distraction. I know people were anxious to see what happens when he came back [from the World Baseball Classic]. But I think it could be distracting if it goes on any longer."

VIERA, Fla. -- Alfonso Soriano and the Washington Nationals were stuck in a holding pattern Tuesday. The team had a day off, and no one seems to know whether he will agree to move from second base to left field.

Soriano

"I'm going to think about it," Soriano told MLB.com, saying he was going to talk with his wife and agent. "I want to play, but they have [Jose] Vidro at second base. I will make a decision [on Wednesday morning]."

It's not the first time Soriano's career has been affected by a proposed position change.

He was a shortstop in the minors, then moved to second base late in spring training before his rookie season with the New York Yankees in 2001, when Chuck Knoblauch accepted a shift from second to left field.

Soriano wound up becoming an All-Star at second for New York. Then, in 2004, he was shipped to Texas in the deal that sent Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees (where Rodriguez moved from shortstop to third base).

There was talk that spring of moving Soriano to the outfield, because the Rangers already had a second baseman in Michael Young. But the day before the first full-squad spring workout, Young offered to move over to Rodriguez's old spot at shortstop.

"That's the difference to me: Michael Young is the type who stepped up before we had to make a decision, when Soriano said he wanted to play second base," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said Tuesday in Surprise, Ariz. "That's why Michael is such a leader on this team."

Texas traded Soriano to Washington this offseason, and he was to make his first appearance in a Nationals uniform Monday night in an exhibition game against the Dodgers. He was listed on a lineup sheet in left field -- the spot Washington wants him to play -- but he refused to go into the game.

"[The Nationals] didn't tell me about the switch until after the trade," Soriano told MLB.com. "[The Rangers] didn't want them to talk, because they know what the problem is. The Nationals had to know how unhappy I would be."

On Wednesday, the Nationals travel to Jupiter for an exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Soriano is expected to be penciled into the lineup in left field again.

"The next step is to write his name in the lineup for Wednesday's game and see if he will show up in Jupiter and go out and play the outfield," Nationals manager Frank Robinson said after Monday's 11-5 loss to Los Angeles.

Soriano's refusal to play in the game prompted Nationals general manager Jim Bowden to threaten putting Soriano on the disqualified list, which would prevent him from playing, accruing service time and receiving his $10 million salary.

"It is a distraction. Absolutely," Robinson said Monday. He wasn't at Space Coast Stadium on Tuesday -- Robinson said he'd be playing golf -- nor were many people associated with the team.

If Soriano is disciplined, the players' association could file a grievance.

"We've been in touch with Soriano and his representatives and we're gathering the facts," said Michael Weiner, the union's general counsel.

The ironic thing is he has more errors at 2nd since 2001 than any other player in the league. I think he has 46 more than 2nd place. That is horrible.

"I don't like to sound egotistical, but every time I stepped up to the plate with a bat in my hands, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the pitcher."
-Rogers Hornsby-

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."
-Rogers Hornsby-
Just a note to all the active members of BBF, I consider all of you the smartest baseball people I have ever communicated with and love everyday I am on here. Thank you all!